Is there a term for being Anti-Religious, but having a belief in God?

Question

I am asking because Atheists deny God's existence and Agnostics don't think it's possible for there to be a God (assuming scientifically)......... is anti-religious simply anti-religious? or is there a specific term for it?

I am not trying to offend anyone Agnostic, I just wasn't sure of the technical definitions and differences between both Atheism and Agnosticism. I simply do not understand what all of this means, hence the question.

Answer 1

"Deist" is the term that I believe you may be looking for. I believe that the force, the power, whatever it is that is the original uncaused cause of the universe is God. A true atheist doesn't see it that way, but that's okay by me. We do agree though, that the God of organized or revealed religions, as in that of prophets and priests, is self-serving flattery by primitive tribal mentalities.

Many of the United States' founders were Deists or very similar, (Jefferson, Paine, Franklin, Washington) with little if any time for traditional Christianity. They cherished freedom from the power of the church and its history of oppression, but had a faith in a rational God that they observed in nature. Their ideals and goals were the common sense, and reason of rational minds.

added comment to 'common_sense_don't_hurt' and to all:
Faith in God in no way necessarily implies faith in Jesus, even if you personally believe that they are one and the same. The asker did not mention Jesus. Millions of people, within religion or out, have concepts of God that have nothing to do with him. THAT'S common sense as well as common knowledge.

Answer 2

Being Anti-religious and having belief is virtually impossible. Anti-religious means opposing religions, thus taking an offensive stance against belief, rather than just lacking it. It certainly takes hypocrisy to do that. Note that Anti-Religious means being against all religions and not only against one or two. Thus we should expect Anti-Religious people to be against deism as well.

Atheists lack belief in a deity. Agnostics say there is a 50-50 chance (We can't tell for sure!), and thus not taking any either side (Atheism verses Belief in a deity).

Pantheists don't really believe in a supernatural God, but use the word God as a synonym for Nature or the Universe. So since its not really a religion based on any beliefs... Its possible for a Pantheist to be Anti-Religious.

Answer 3

Hmmm, good question. When you say anti-religious do you mean somebody who lacks religion entirely? is against any religion (which would seem to be a sort of religion but I can agree it's only so in the sense that Atheism is a type of religion - a weak religion at best)? Or simply somebody who is against organized religion? I'm not sure you can even say "anti-religious" is as close as you'll get.

Deists tend to believe in a god, just not the super duper Theist god and there just aren't Deist religions that I'm aware of. Then there's pantheists who believe in a sort of creative force that just did his job at the beginning of time and has not interfered since. They too have no churches that I'm aware of. In a sense, it seems to boil down to whether the term you seek includes some sort of like or dislike or organized religious institutions and what are the properties of the god you believe in.

Answer 4

A lot of Hindus believe in God but not in religion. They have the word hindu on their birth certificates only.
Most true budhists are athiests.

Not to believe in a religion does not necessarily mean that one is bad. One may be practicing the concepts of nature and life without following any religion. One may be such a 'saint' that his/her day to day life is more acceptable than any one else practicing any religion and an example to a practitioner of any religion.

But if there is an Energy (with its universal natural law or laws of the universe) behind and in creation, then we may call this impartial energy - god or generator, operator, destroyer (by natural laws such as death old age etc. ) Just to justify the d in god I am saying destroyer - but I think the energy is impartial and when the time comes to go we have to go. The global warming an the floods and the earthquakes are not god sitting in judgment over us. I am sure he has billions and billions of universe systems and planets and stars to worry about.

This question being under religion and spirituality the word for a non-religious yet believer in god will not make an impact on the universe.

By the way, an atheist also believes in something. Him/herself. Only he/she does not have the confidence to use the word 'God' in reference to what he/she believes in.

Because the world has conceptualized the word 'God".

The true Buddhist should not believe in god, idols, statues, nor worship them - the teachings of the Buddha. Heshe is an 'atheist'. Actually Buddhism is not a religion. It is a philosophy.
So when we try to define a Buddhist we have to face these millions and millions of Buddhists and say they are athiests and have no religion because they practise philosophy. .

Answer 5

agnostics do not say whether god exists or not.
They take a position of non decision.

There are also TWO types of atheists: STRONG atheists, those who say "there is no god". They do not believe in god at all. WEAK atheists (like me), doubt God's existence, but do not dismiss the possibility that there may be god(s) Which just lean towards "doubt". So you have
Agnostic: "I don't know"
Weak Atheists: "Probably not"
Strong Atheists: "There is no God".

I guess that would be the easiest way of describing them.

Answer 6

He did say some anti-christian and anti-Jewish issues, thinking chistians have been too vulnerable and wimpy, and so worth of contempt, and that Jews have been parasites. He killed christian activists who adversarial him, and commited genocide against 3/4 of eu Jewry. in addition the antichrist will end his reign with poor deeds against the Jews; Hitler had the great degree of that mindset and hatred. The antichrist will additionally dominate the international for a quick time, Hitler matched that. The antichrist will additionally be an spectacular charmer with aura, and could fool massive numbers - Hitler became that with the Germans, and a few bigger classification people in different international places.

Answer 7

Actually, there is no person on Earth who is anti-religious.

Why? The definition of religion is rather all inclusive:

"An object of conscientious devotion or care. Example: "His work is a religion to him".

In short: Every person on this planet "cares" about something or someone or both.

The more formal definition includes the beliefs, attitudes, emotions, behavior, rituals, etcetera constituting man's relationship with the Universe, especially with a diety or dieties.

Of course, the most common usage is the particular rituals associated with the worship of God.

Just thought you would like to know .............

To anwer your question: The term used to describe someone who is anti-religious is ........comatose or corpse. (Of course, those people declaring themselves as "anti-religious" are ignorant. Not stupid, just ignorant. ...

Answer 8

Atheists do not necessarily dismiss the existence of "God". We are just more likely to refuse to accept the divinity of some Omnipotent Deity who claims to have the power to cause so much pain and misery in the world.Try looking up something along the lines of "Humanism"

www.infidels.org/library/modern/fred_edwords/humanism.html

Good luck.

Answer 9

Atheism says God does not exist, Agnosticism says that God may or may not exist.

I wish there was a word for that! Maybe there is one, but I don't know it.

Answer 10

well when it comes to agnosticism you are totally wrong agnostics don't have enough evidence to know for sure whether or not god exists so you have agnosticism wrong it's not how you say it is